Phew. Greetings, once again, from Elevator Doors HQ, where we have spent the summer in search of meaning amid swirling chaos.
If you’ve been wondering what happened to this column for the past couple months, I have a story for you.
After yet another night of constant doomscrolling, I looked deep within my heart and tried to find a way help make my corner of the world just a little greener, a little prettier, a little better. I hopped on Craigslist and found what seemed to be a too-good-to-be-true opportunity to plant trees in and around the greater Los Angeles area as part of an ambitious carbon-offset plan that would help mitigate the impacts of greenhouse gases on our increasingly unstable climate.
I don’t live in Los Angeles, and I struggle to keep houseplants alive, but I thought to myself “What the heck?” Plus, the Craigslist ad promised benefits – both financial and access-related – that few other operations could hope to equal.
What’s the worst that could happen?
I hitched a ride to East Los Angeles, where a friendly face in a REDACTED t-shirt and matching hat met me and gifted me an identical matching hat/shirt set. He told me we would be planting trees throughout Anaheim, with the goal of reaching Huntington Beach prior to Opening Day of the 2025-26 NBA season. With nothing but a brand-new pair of gardening gloves in my pocket and hope in my heart, we got to work. Even though the temperatures often touched triple digits and my tree-planting efforts left a lot to be desired, I felt good about what our team at REDACTED was seeking to accomplish.
Plus, our team lead kept telling us we would get to meet a major NBA superstar!
The team that planted the most trees would be part of a social media campaign with REDACTED that was certain to be a viral sensation. After all, this NBA superstar is known throughout the world for his winning personality and unstoppable charisma. Whatever the Los Angeles REDACTED were paying him for his association with us was a bargain at twice the price – and definitely legal under the NBA salary cap, according to our team leader.
Even though our team doubled every other team’s tree-planting efforts (we planted 3.5 living trees in three months!), REDACTED never showed up. Can you believe it? I wasn’t mad – just a little disappointed. I texted my new Los Angeles friend – a curious fellow named Pablo who was always asking me and my friends about our new jobs – about these broken promises and whether he could look into it for us. I just wanted to meet REDACTED.
I left Los Angeles shortly after our tree-planting group closed shop. I’m still not sure exactly what happened, but I hope nobody got in any trouble. I just tried to bring a little beauty into the world.
OK, enough goofing around. Let’s get some reckless predictions on the record on the eve of what promises to be a fascinating 2025-26 NBA season:
No. 1: The Denver Nuggets will win the NBA championship.
Take this one with a grain of salt – or perhaps an entire saltshaker. This is my favorite team, and Nikola Jokic is my favorite player. Even if I wasn’t actively rooting for this to happen, the rational NBA prognosticator part of my brain just so happens to agree with my irrational fan side.
This is the best roster the Nuggets have ever assembled around Jokic – yes, including the 2023 title team. Cam Johnson is a significant upgrade over Michael Porter Jr., both in terms of basketball ability and “not saying the dumbest stuff I’ve ever heard anytime a podcast mic is in front of his face” ability. The Johnson/Porter trade also allowed the Nuggets enough wiggle room to bring back folk hero Bruce Brown, a real backup center in Jonas Valanciunas, and a legitimate bench scoring weapon in Tim Hardaway Jr. Christian Braun is on the verge of a major leveling up. The Jokic/Jamal Murray/Aaron Gordon core is rock solid.
The only problem? There is no evidence to suggest that the defending champs in Oklahoma City will be any worse than they were last season. Every key contributor on that squad (with the possible exception of Alex Caruso) is still improving. They’re terrifying. Teams don’t repeat in the NBA anymore, but a healthy Thunder squad has the best shot of doing so.
I believe the Thunder will finish the season with the best regular season record and enter the playoffs as the clear favorites. I just think the Nuggets – who pushed them to seven last year with 4.5 healthy/playable players by the end of the series – are going to beat them.
No. 2: Victor Wembanyama will win the MVP award.
Any season Nikola Jokic is healthy = Nikola Jokic is the best at basketball. I don’t think that changes this year. The MVP award, however, is a narrative-based award. Jokic, who has won three and finished second twice, will not win any narrative battles. Pundits will likely point to Denver’s much-needed roster improvements and Jokic will have no interest in campaigning for this award or caring in the slightest.
Wembanyama, on the other hand, will have a clear head start in any narrative battle should the San Antonio Spurs win at a high level this season. He is capable of producing highlights that didn’t have the possibility of existing before him. His team is young and fun, but not exactly proven. If the Spurs come close to the 50-win mark and Wemby plays in 70 games (the latter must happen if the former is a possibility), he will win Defensive Player of the Year in a near-unanimous vote and win his first of what might be a half-dozen MVP awards a year or two ahead of schedule.
No. 3: Cooper Flagg will make an All-NBA team.
It seems silly to predict a Rookie of the Year win for Flagg. It seems too obvious to state out loud. Let’s get nuts – I think it’s possible he walks into the league as one of the top 15 players.
Of course, All-NBA is among the league’s most injury-dependent designations of excellence. Several players have earned an All-NBA nod that perhaps didn’t deserve one after a half-dozen of the league’s truly elite fell short of the 65-game threshold. This year’s All-NBA ballot is sadly already missing Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton. Joel Embiid is, well, Joel Embiid. We will see 2-3 players fighting it out for those final spots on the third team ballot that we didn’t expect.
Flagg is going to be in the mix.
Unlike most No. 1 overall picks, Flagg joins an organization that already has veteran leadership, a solid coaching philosophy, and playoff aspirations. Unlike almost all rookies, Flagg already plays defense at a near-elite level, which will endear him to his coaching staff and earn him 30-35 minutes per night, every night. And unlike any rookie in years, Flagg will be asked to carry a heavy burden on both ends of the floor for a team that expects to win games.
I have yet to see any indication that Flagg will wilt under these expectations and responsibilities. In fact, it seems as though Flagg thrives in situations when a team is asking a great deal of him. His jumper looks smoother than it did in college. His handle seems tighter, too. I can’t get a handle on what his end-of-year stat line might look like, but 22-7-5 on reasonable shooting efficiency with borderline All-NBA Second Team defense seems within the realm of possibility. Sounds like All-NBA Third Team to me.
We went a little long this week, but it’s good to be back. Enjoy the games – even if it will take a few weeks getting used to where they’re all being broadcast.
